Alphonse Pierre’s Off the Dome column covers songs, mixtapes, albums, scenes, snippets, movies, Meek Mill tweets, fashion trends—and anything else that catches his attention. This week, Al hits up a ...

What seemed like a throwaway lyric tacked onto a catchy Bizkit banger actually had some profound meaning for Fred Durst ...

Jack Harlow went viral for saying he got "Blacker" for his R&B album, Monica, and social media comedically clapped back at the rebrand.

Paste is the place to kick off each and every New Music Friday. We follow our regular roundups of the best new songs by ...

For anyone to create a whole, new, recognisable – and kick-ass – musical style in this day and age is no small achievement. To do so as you enter your 70s is pretty mind boggling. Yet somehow, that’s ...

Rappers have always turned pain into poetry. Explore 16 of the saddest rap songs ever made, raw stories of grief, heartbreak, and survival in Hip Hop.

Ah, the 1980s, a decade known for its catchy tunes, very large shoulder pads, and poorly-aged lyrics. It’s one thing to put on your legwarmers and play music from that decade while you aerobicize, but ...

To get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day, here are some of The Root’s favorite rap love songs. While hip-hop is often characterized by its bravado and aggression, the genre has also flourished ...

Kim Gordon (formerly of Sonic Youth) is releasing a new solo album, PLAY ME, on March 13 via Matador. Now she has shared another song from it, “DIRTY TECH,” via a music video. Moni Haworth directed ...

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Beach natives Pharrell Williams and rap duo Clipse, featuring Pusha T and Malice, performed Sunday on music’s “biggest night” at the 68th annual Grammy Awards in ...

Balendra (Balen) Shah’s first Facebook post in 2012 was a rap song about his school days. In many other YouTube videos, a younger beardless Shah raps in expletives-ridden X-rated perfornances.

**For clarity, rap and hip-hop are used interchangeably throughout the article, as both represent the same space in music charts.** Additionally, in mid-September 2025, only four hip-hop songs were on ...